Vincent Cassel says his energy drives him to play wildcard characters

Vincent Cassel has admitted his energy drives him to play live wire film roles.

The 50-year-old film star is renowned for portraying charismatic characters - having starred as nobleman François Toulour in the 'Ocean's' film franchise and played ballet director Thomas Leroy in 'Black Swan' but he has admitted his latest role in the melodrama 'It's Only the End of the World', in which he plays under-educated carpenter Antoin, he was drawn to for his escapism.

In an interview with The Times newspaper, he said: "I guess there is something in me that's like that. My energy has something to do with it. People call me for these types of roles, but it's my fault because it's something I've always been attracted to. I have this view, maybe it's a bit extreme...because society is hard to live in we have to behave because otherwise we would pee on the floor, and we would f**k everybody, and we would say everything we want to say all of the time. But we can't. So somehow seeing people on screen express these things is good for us."

But when taking on these complex characters, Cassel has admitted it's not tricky.

He said: "People who want you to believe that acting is hard and acting is important? It's bullsh*t. Acting is easy. Trust me."

Cassel played womanising restaurateur Georgio, in 2015 drama 'Mon Roi', who keeps leaving his wife for a mentally unstable but very sexy girlfriend and he was not afraid to defend his character when it faced criticism at Cannes Film Festival that year.

He said: "I heard people saying that he was a sadist or a manipulator. I don't agree. He's just a man. Men are like that. The truth that men, at a certain point, can f*** a lot more people than they should. They might. They would. And if they don't it's only because they are really controlling themselves. And if you say it's not like that I think you're lying."